DANIA WINS GRANT FOR BOAT TO CLEAN WATERWAYS

DANIA -- Dania employees soon will be scooting around in the city's first boat. But they won't be going for pleasure cruises. They will be fishing -- for dirt and debris.

Although the 6.5-square-mile city boasts more than 10 miles of waterways, it never has had a boat to keep the canals clean.

That should change by the end of the year, thanks to the Florida Inland Navigation District, which last week awarded Dania $30,000 in matching funds to buy a boat.

Dania was one of the lucky cities. Forty cities and govermental entities between Jacksonville and Miami had sought a total of $5.3 million in grants, but the district's 11-member board awarded only $3.3 million.

"They gave Dania the whole $30,000 it requested, but in other cases they cut the amounts and in others they gave nothing," said Art Wilde, executive director of the district that collects property taxes from residents in 11 counties along Florida's east coast from Jacksonville in Duval County to Dade.

The district's grants are all 50-50 -- the district pays 50 percent of the cost and the local government matches it with 50 percent. The grants are subject to the approval of Gov. Lawton Chiles and the Cabinet, but they never have vetoed individual grants, Wilde said.

Wilde said he hopes to present the district's budget request to the Cabinet on Sept. 12. If approved, the money would be available to Dania after Oct. 1, the start of the district's new budget year.

Why did Dania get everything it asked for? It could be that Mayor Bob Mikes personally appealed to the board. Mikes was the only elected official to plead his case at the board's May meeting; all other governments sent staff personnel.

More important than a personal appearance, Mikes said, was that the city was asking for a boat, something that directly relates to the district's mission of sponsoring water-related projects.

"A number of projects from other cities were only indirectly related to the navigation district's primary function and (the board) wasn't excited about them," Mikes said. "I think this is the kind of project they prefer."

Dania City Manager Robert F. Flatley said the city has set aside the $30,000 to match the grant. The city's money will be used to pay and train existing Public Works Department employees to operate the boat. About $10,000 may be used for additional equipment for the boat to perform its job of cleaning up the waterways.

Once the district gives the final OK, the city will draw up specifications for the boat and ask dealers to submit bids.

In addition to cleaning waterways, the boat can be used after hurricanes to reach flooded areas, Flatley said.

The only time the city's waterways are cleaned are during the annual volunteer clean-up sponosred by the Marine Industries Association, Mikes said.